Hartsville, SC- Classes are finished, exams have been completed and seniors have graduated, but that hasn’t stopped the Coker College Golf Team from studying extra hard for the coming weeks test. Luckily for the Cobras they are studying the break in the green and the yardage on the course, as they prepare for the 2006 NCAA Division II National Golf Championship.

Head Coach John Handrigan said, “At the beginning of the year I asked the team to give me 100 percent and I told them if we do so we will achieve our goal of making the NCAA National Championship.” For both Handrigan and his team that hard work has definitely paid off.

Handrigan, in only his third year as a head coach, will be leading the Cobras on their first trip to the National championship as a team. Coker had an individual golfer go to the national championship, Chris Taylor, in 2003.

Coker and its five golfers are just one of 18 teams and 105 participants, including six top ten and 14 top twenty teams, vying for the title of 2006 National Champion. The Cobras will be joined by two other Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference (CVAC) schools, Pfeiffer University and Barton College, along with Dion Sirrianni of Lees-McRae, who will compete as an individual.

Win or lose this has been a very memorable year for the Cobras. They won the CVAC Championship, along with winning the Atlantic Regional. The Cobras are also ranked in the top twenty in the nation, and they are going to the National Championship.

“This has been a great year not only for these players, but also for Coker College and the golf program,” said Handrigan, “I know this will be something these guys will remember for the rest of their lives.”

The 2006 Division II Golf National Championship runs from May 16-19, in Daniels, West Virginia at The Resort at Glade Springs. Fans can follow all the action live via the internet with live scoring at www.golfstat.com and daily updates on www.cokercobras.com.